1. True or false? Administrative responsibilities for Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area are shared by the National Park Service and various federal agencies, state and local governments, and private organizations.

2. True or false? The Cold Harbor battlefield preserves the site of a Civil War battle between Union gunboats and Confederate shore batteries on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg.

3. True or false? The Aleutian World War II National Historic Area in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is a component of the National Park System.

4. True or false? If you harbor a desire to pull your boat into a harbor and camp nearby for the night, one place you can do it is in Biscayne National Park.

5. True or false? Great Kills Park, which has a harbor and marina, is a component of Gateway National Recreation Area.

6. True or false? Ocracoke Island harbor is in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

7. True or false? The National Park Service permits people who visit the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor to drop leis into the water atop the sunken vessel to honor the sailors entombed there.

8. All of the following forts or fort sites are preserved in National Park System units. Which was a fort constructed for harbor defense purposes?
a. Fort Vancouver
b. Fort Wadsworth
c. Fort Scott
d. Fort Jefferson

9. Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, and Bass Harbor are all towns located close to
a. Acadia National Park
b. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
c. Cape Cod National Seashore
d. Cape Krusenstern National Monument

10. Rock Harbor Lodge offers lodging, dining and motor boat rentals in
a. Isle Royale National Park
b. Channel Islands National Park
c. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
d. Canaveral National Seashore

Extra Credit Question:

11. People who want to photograph harbor seals might reasonably look for them in all of the following National Park System units EXCEPT: (Choose the one that “does not belong.”)
a. Golden Gate National Recreation Area
b. Glacier Bay National Park
c. Padre Island National Seashore
d. Acadia National Park

Super Bonus Question:

12. Only two National Park System units have the word “harbor” as part of their official name. One is Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Name the other one and tell where it is.

Answers:

(1) True. The Boston Harbor Islands Partnership, which manages the 30 islands comprising Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, consists of nearly a dozen separate agencies and organizations, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, the City of Boston, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Boston Harbor Island Alliance.

(2) False. The Cold Harbor battlefield, site of a June 1864 battle that was a lopsided Confederate victory, is located near Richmond, Virginia, and administered as part of Richmond National Battlefield Park.

(3) False. The Aleutian World War II National Historic Area in Dutch Harbor is an Affiliated Area. The National Park Service-administered World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument does have sites in the Aleutians on Attu, Atka, and Kiska Islands.

(4) True. Boaters can tie up at Biscayne’s Elliott Key harbor and camp overnight at the island’s campground. The fee is currently $20/nite/site, cash only, if you have a boat in the harbor.

(5) True. Great Kills Park, a 900-acre site on Staten Island that largely consists of reclaimed municipal landfill, is part of Gateway National Recreation Area. The Great Kills harbor, marina, and sandy beach are popular recreational sites.

(6) False. Ocracoke, an unincorporated village on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, does have a harbor (called Silver Lake), but neither the village nor the harbor is within the nearby Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

(7) False. Although it is OK to throw flowers into the water atop the sunken ship, tossing leis into the water is forbidden. Flowers decompose rapidly and harmlessly in the water, but the durable strings that hold leis together are potentially hazardous to sea life.

(8) b -– Fort Wadsworth, a brick masonry fort situated at the foot of New York’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge, is one of a group of fortifications constructed to defend the entrance to New York harbor. First used in the Revolutionary War, and garrisoned until it closed in 1994, Fort Wadsworth was the longest continuously used military site in America.

(9) a -– Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, and Bass Harbor are all located in the southern part of Mount Desert Island near Acadia National Park ( the bulk of which is located on the island). Bar Harbor, Acadia’s gateway town, is located in the northern part of the island near the park’s Cadillac Mountain entrance.

(10) a -- Rock Harbor Lodge (closed for winter) is in Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. Camping is the only lodging option available within the borders of those other three National Park System units.

(11) c -- Padre Island National Seashore is located on the Gulf of Mexico. That’s well outside the natural range of harbor seals, which includes the Pacific Coast plus much of the Atlantic Coast (reportedly as far south as Florida).

(12) Great Egg Harbor Scenic and Recreational River is a fairly new (authorized 1992) National Park System unit running through or along the Pinelands National Reserve (Pine Barrens), a huge Affiliated Area in southern New Jersey. This unit, which includes many of the Great Egg Harbor River’s tributaries, is the Pinelands’ largest canoeing river.

Grading: 9 or 10 correct, rest on your laurels; 7 or 8 correct, pretty darn good; 6 correct, passable fair; 5 or fewer correct, nothing to brag about.